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Pastor Maldonado is the fifth different winner in five Formula One races this season. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Pastor Maldonado puts Williams back in Formula One victory lane

May 12, 2012

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Pastor Maldonado scored an amazing victory for Williams at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona after a faultless performance by the young Venezuelan. Williams became the fifth different team to win in five races in an eventful 2012 Formula One season.

Maldonado resisted enormous pressure from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in the closing stages of the race, but Maldonado managed to stay in front to record Williams' first win since Brazil 2004.

The team's celebrations were spoiled by a huge garage fire that erupted after the race involving a fuel rig in the back of the garage. Some personnel were injured.

An already mixed-up grid was made even more interesting before the race after Lewis Hamilton was demoted from pole to the back, leaving second qualifier Maldonado with the chance of his life.

However, Alonso charged to the lead at the start and stayed in front for the first two stints. At the second of three pit stops, Williams took a gamble and brought Maldonado in before Alonso. The Spaniard lost some time in traffic, and by the time he pitted two laps later, Maldonado was in front.

In the fourth and final stint, Alonso had slightly fresher tires, but he took too much out of them chasing the Williams car, and having nearly made it past dropped a couple of seconds back in the closing laps.

Kimi Räikkönen was catching both of his rivals after a late last pit stop left him with even fresher rubber, and having been 18 seconds behind at one point he was only four seconds behind the winner at the end.

His teammate Romain Grosjean suffered some bodywork damage in a first lap clash, which cost him speed, but he still managed to bring the second Lotus home in fourth place.

Kamui Kobayashi took fifth for Sauber, while a drive-thru penalty for speeding under yellows hampered Sebastian Vettel, who finished sixth.

Nico Rosberg was seventh, while Hamilton recovered to finish in seventh place thanks to a tough two-stop strategy, finishing ahead of Jenson Button and Nico Hulkenberg. Mark Webber finished outside the points in 11th.

In the most dramatic incident of the race, Michael Schumacher ran heavily into the back of Bruno Senna at turn one on lap 13. Schumacher appeared to be caught out as the Brazilian appeared to make a late move to the left in the braking area. The drivers blamed each other for the collision, but Schumacher received a five-place penalty for Monaco.